Suspected herdsmen kill five in Agatu & Otukpo in Benue State

Five individuals were slain in fresh attacks by alleged herders on certain communities in Benue State’s Otukpo and Agatu Local Government Areas.

Separate attacks were made at the Atakpa and Ogbaulu communities in the Agatu LGA, where four people are said to have died and numerous women were raped.

Also, it was learned that on Thursday, herders attacked the Iwili community in the Otukpo LGA again, this time killing one person.

According to Joseph Ngbede, the chairman of the Agatu LGA, who verified the incident, the alleged herders shot randomly at Atakpa by 5:00 PM on Thursday and had an unknown goal.

He claimed that authorities were still looking for the missing Atakpa youth leader. He continued by saying that Ogbalu was in danger close to the settlement of Atakpa.

Four people have been killed so far, one is missing, and another was hurt, according to Ngbede.

Ibrahim Galma, the state secretary of the Nigerian Miyeitti Alla Cattle Breeders Association, stated that a meeting to discuss the problem was now taking place.

When reached, Catherine Anene, a spokeswoman for the Benue State Police Command, confirmed the attack in Agatu but said more information had not yet been received.

Anene stated, “Agatu event is confirmed, however the comprehensive report has not yet been sent.”

Nasarawa PDP Declares 7-day Protest

Yesterday, protesters demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) examine the outcome of the governorship election in Nasarawa State.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Stakeholders-led demonstrators in Nasarawa State’s Karu local government area demanded the resignation of the state’s resident electoral commissioner immediately.

INEC was accused of bias in the way the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections were handled by the party leadership in Karu.

With signs reading “#INEC We Say No To Manipulations; #INEC Keep Your Promise; International Communities Save Our Country Our Leaders Are Compromised; Protect Us From Manipulators; We Need Our Nation To Be Cleansed From Injustice And Manipulation; The Will And Rights Of The People Must Be Respected,” protesters also voiced their displeasure with the results.
The group’s leader, Comrade Chindo Allahyayi, announced the start of a seven-day protest at the group’s Karu headquarters and requested the commission to reinstate the people’s mandate.

We are starting a seven-day protest to inform the entire state and country that our candidate has won, he declared. We are thus requesting that INEC reconsider its judgment right now and declare our candidate the winner.

“We are urging people to return to the IReV portal and review all the results from all the voting places in the 13 LGA of Nasarawa State so they can clearly see that David Ombugadu, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won the March 18 governorship in Nasarawa State.

Because it won’t result in a healthy society, we strongly denounced the election rigging, Allahyayi stated.
The Coalition for Ombugadu Campaign’s public relations representative requested the commission to change course and examine its operations.

Middle Belt Politics: How Uni Jos VC Masterminded Electoral Heist, Throwing Nasarawa State into Chaos

Professor Ishaya Tanko, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos and the INEC State Returning Officer for the just concluded gubernatorial election in Nasarawa state has been trending albeit for the wrong reason. While his counterparts in other parts of Nigeria are receiving praises for their integrity and refusal to compromise during their electoral duty, Tanko is being dragged for poorly masterminding one of the greatest electoral heist in the history of the Middle Belt which has thrown Nasarawa into chaos and mourning.

Tanko and his cronies deliberately delayed the release of results from local governments that were known to be under the government’s influence. They even stalled the collation process in wards within the state capital itself, all in an effort to manipulate the outcome of the election.

Local governments in places like Awe and Lafia, where the influence of the government reigns, were purposefully delayed, pending the release of all other results. It even trickled down to wards in the state capital – (Ciroma and Gayam) which were unable to complete collation in 2days, whilst other states concluded their elections in a day

The same Gayam and Ciroma were later ruled inconclusive due to suspicious circumstances, including the military’s abrupt withdrawal and admission that it could not guarantee the safety of the INEC officials in the region.

Additional inconsistencies include the fact that Nasarawa received 540,566 votes for the presidency and the total Governorship votes suspiciously rose to 650,357. 109,791 more people in just three weeks.

Furthermore, although the break down of votes scored by the four top candidates in the Lafia Central House of Assembly Constituency Election where Ciroma and Gayam wards were:

SDP 17, 861
PDP 17, 113
APC 16, 413
NNPP 15, 209

Total=66,596

APC and Prof Tanko Ishaya manufactured over 107,000 votes for AA Sule and allocated only 41000 to Umbugadu whereas those who voted for the Governorship election were the same number that voted for the Lafia Central Constituency. This begs the inference that some voters just came to the polls to cast their votes for the governorship and left without collecting the House of Assembly ballots.

Not unexpectedly, 91,000 of the 109,791 new voters are the result of the two local governments whose announcement INEC postponed. Isn’t that just convenient?

Due to INEC’s tardiness, there appeared to be an extraordinary population explosion in all of the wards and local governments that were called late. Suspicious?

It was also alleged that Governor Yahaya Bello, Elrufai, and Tinubu’s running mate, Shettima were sighted in Nasarawa at the time this electoral heist took place, which suggests that there was more going on in the state than what first appears to be the case.

And to crown it all up, Tanko, who had initially postponed the collation of results till 9am, suddenly reconvened at 7am when PDP members and agents have been forced to leave the center and declared AA Sule the winner.

The figures on the INEC results portal as uploaded from the various polling units contradict what Professor Tanko and his co-travellers manufactured, showing clearly that David Ombagadu is the actual winner of the election.

Now, complicating matters in the state even more, a reliable source within the PDP has confirmed that Atiku supported AA Sule of the APC over David Ombagadu, the PDP candidate for governor, because of sentiments related to religion and ethnicity, and also due to the fact that AA Sule and Atiku have a long business history together.

What makes this even more objectionable is that, should the case get to court, Ishaya Tanko’s wife is the secretary of the High Court in Abuja, which means she’ll probably have a role to play there.

Even more perplexing and disheartening is the fact that Professor Tanko, a native of Southern Kebbi, a region of the Middle Belt, will allow himself to be used as a tool in regard to the subjugation of other Middle Belt natives.

Protests have erupted in Nasarawa as women are protesting naked against what they call “their stolen mandate”

Note that, going by the pattern of voting in Nasarawa state, the Eggons happened to have constantly won the two House of Assembly stools in Lafia. In fact, they won it this time in the PDP and SDP. It is illogical to say their kinsman would lose the Gubernatorial election.

Professor Tanko has not only brought chaos to Nasarawa state but has also brought shame to the entire Middle Belt for allowing himself to be used for pecuniary motives.